Are your working time over? Let’s go out.

She typed but then erased it.

Yah! I’m bored. Let’s go out.

She was about to hit the send button, but then, she erased the message again.

For hours, Park Chorong had been repeating the same two actions over and over. She would type her messages and then erased it afterwards. Although the ‘send’ button was only one click away, but she felt like her ego was too big to let her to do so.

It was Saturday afternoon and Chorong was well aware of the fact that Bomi was on her working hours at the Bubibu, the cupcake shop. But she was bored and alone at home. Naeun and Yookyung were out on a date, whilst her so-called-boyfriend, Woohyun was having a day out with his guy friends. The only person that she could think of – or perhaps the only person that Chorong wanted to spend her time with was surprisingly Yoon Bomi.

Park Chorong had been thinking of her ever since last night. She wanted to know if Bomi had finally liken the phone gift and if she had been using the phone wisely and in fact, last night, she had wanted to send a good night text to Bomi, but she thought that it would be weird and awkward, so she shrugged the thoughts off and went to bed instead.

All she needed was a good reason to text her – and an even more, solid reasons to meet her. She was still contemplating as her fingers typed a message.

Yah, I’m coming over to Bubibu. Reserve a table for me.

She looked over to her phone’s screen and felt satisfied with the content. She pressed the ‘send’ button and hoped to receive a reply back.

-----

“From now on, if I call you, you must pick up. And if I text you, I expect a reply.”

Those sentences were running through Bomi’s mind when she felt her phone’s vibrate from her pocket. She quickly reached her phone and took it out from the pocket, flipped it open and saw the senior’s number appeared on her screen.

“Why does she have to be this troublesome!” Bomi muttered under her breath as she read the message from Park Chorong. That Saturday was a rather chaotic day at Bubibu. Namjoo couldn’t make it for her working shift, which left Dongwoo, Hayoung and Bomi struggling to keep all of their customers happy. Now that Park Chorong was coming too, Bomi could only imagine of how much of a fuss that she would have to deal with.

Filled with annoyance, Bomi only typed two letters “OK” and sent it to the senior.

It didn’t take too long until Chorong finally set her foot in the cupcake shop.  She was trying to look for Bomi’s presence but she noticed how Bomi was busy delivering foods to the customers with tray in her hands, so instead, she helped herself to the only empty table at the shop, which she thought was reserved for her.

She took her seat and observed Bomi from afar. Chorong saw the dedication that Bomi put to her work – a thing that she wouldn’t be able to understand of how the waitress work was that important to Bomi that Bomi was willing to put her education in Cube Art Academy on the line.

“Yah!” A loud exclamation startled the customers in the shop.

“How could you spill the drinks on me?!” a middle-aged guy exclaimed loudly. There were stains of drinks all over his white shirt.

“I’m sorry sir, I’m sorry.” Bomi said while bowing to the guy repeatedly. She tried to wipe off the stains from the guy’s shirt, but the guy denied and pushed her hands away – harshly. “Yah! Do you know how much this shirt costs me??” the guy yelled again.

The scene caused such a ruckus as the customers kept on staring and complaining within themselves. Hayoung tried to calm all of the customers down, but she failed to do so. Not being able to watch the scene anymore, Chorong immediately stood up from her seat and went over to Bomi’s side to help her. She certainly did not like the way of how Bomi was treated.

“I apologized on her behalf.” Chorong said, as she took the white cloth from Bomi’s hands and started to wipe off the stains from the guy’s shirt. Perhaps it was Chorong’s charms or her deadly good looks, the middle-aged guy stopped scolding – and he had a big grin on his face.

“Go and entertain the other customers, I’ll help you out with this.” Chorong murmured to Bomi who was still in stun with the senior’s thoughtful action. She wasn’t expecting that.

Thanks to Park Chorong, the intense environment due to the mishap had been quickly forgotten by the customers as the shop returned to its normal, busy condition. Hayoung was back to taking orders and Bomi continued to deliver their orders – this time more carefully. But what was even more surprising was the fact that – Chorong’s help didn’t end with the middle-aged guy. She was seen wearing an apron with notes and a pen in both of her hands. She would be seen running around from one table to another, stopping to each table – while talking and entertaining the customers who were restless as they were waiting for their orders to come. Never in the entire of Park Chorong’s life, that she had to do something to please people – but she did so. And she didn’t even know why.

Hayoung glanced at Bomi, with a deep frown on her face. Bomi, who caught the glance, was only able to shrug in return. She was grateful that Park Chorong had helped her – but she didn’t expect her to stay at the cupcake shop for hours – and in fact, Chorong was there to help them up until their closing hours.

She had never seen this side of Park Chorong.

“Chorong-ssi, thank you so much for your help today!” Dongwoo blurted out the minute he came out from the kitchen. He looked weary, with all the flours’ stains on his face – but his angelic smile never left.

“Ahh, it’s nothing.” Chorong replied back with a smile.

“We couldn’t make the day without you unnie. Thank you so much!!” Hayoung in into the conversation. She then gave a hug to Chorong, expressing her gratitude towards the senior. Bomi could only smile at Chorong.

-----

“Goodbye Chorong-ssi! Goodbye Bomi-ah!” Dongwoo bid his goodbye to the pair as he rode off his motorbike. Hayoung had already left earlier before – so it left only Chorong and Bomi alone again – both standing outside of the cupcake shop.

“How are you going to go back to your dorm?” asked Chorong, once again breaking the silence between them. She looked at her watch and saw that it was already half passed 9 o’clock at night. It wasn’t safe for Bomi to walk alone at night – and even if there were tons of people hanging around nearby – still – she couldn't help but to feel worry.

“I’ll take the bus.” Bomi replied simply.

“But how?” Chorong asked again. “Won’t it be dangerous?”

Bomi chuckled a little. She had been walking alone to the nearby bus stop for most of her life – and nothing really bad had ever happened to her. And if it did happen, Bomi had her Taekwondo skills to be relied upon to. She was a third degree black belter in Taekwondo for a reason.

“No, don’t worry. I’m going to be fine. The bus stop is quite near; it would only take me around 3 minutes to go there.”

“I’ll send you home.” Chorong offered.

“No, no. That would be troublesome for you. The roads we take are different.”

“I’ll walk you to the bus stop then.” Chorong offered another suggestion.

“No, you don’t have to-”

Again, Chorong didn’t let Bomi to finish her words. She wasn’t going to accept a NO from her, so eventually Bomi succumbed to the senior and let Chorong walked her.

The supposed to be 3-minutes of a walk felt like the longest walk for the pair. They were walking along the pathway with no conversation, as if they were comfortable with the silence of the night. As they were walking, Chorong let Bomi walked slightly ahead of her – just so she could watch her from behind, freely and not having to sneakily steal glances.

The pair had finally reached the bus stop. As Bomi saw a bus was coming on its way, she turned her head around to face Chorong – but only to realize that Chorong was already staring.

“Umm, Chorong-sunbae, no I mean Chorong-unnie, you don’t have to wait here anymore. The bus is coming.”

“O- Okay then. You sure you going to be fine?” Chorong asked to reassure.

“Yeap, don’t worry! And by the way, thank you for today.” Bomi said as she put her foot, entering the bus’ entrance. 

Chorong made sure that Bomi was seated on the bus. She couldn't stop staring from outside - and she was hoping that Bomi would look back at her before the bus set off. And much to her excitement, her hope came true. 

Bomi waved her goodbye with a smile. A beautiful smile that Chorong had never seen before. It was embraced with genuinity, brightness and warmth. Chorong waved her back as the pair exchanged smiles.

And Chorong's heart skipped a beat as a smile spreaded widely across her face.

A/N: For some reasons, writing this chapter puts a smile on my face hehe... From possessive Chorong to the thoughtful Chorong... :) I hope my updates are not disappointing so far... I'm not that much of a good writer to be honest, but I hope you guys like it :)